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PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

OCTOBER 2, 2002

OPENING STATEMENT OF MR. CURT WELDON

HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE
HEARING ON U.S POLICY TOWARD IRAQ

October 2, 2002

Today, the Committee on Armed Services continues its review of United States policy toward Iraq.

This morning's hearing marks the fifth in a number of planned public sessions designed to educate and inform the Committee, and the American people, on the various issues surrounding Iraq's continued violation of numerous United Nation's resolutions, its illicit development of weapons of mass destruction, and the threat that Saddam Hussein poses to the United States, the Middle East, and the international community.

The Committee has received a series of classified briefings from the Intelligence Community on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction and conventional military capabilities. We also heard from former

UNSCOM inspectors about Iraq's illicit weapons programs and Saddam Hussein's persistent efforts to thwart U.N. inspections.

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The committee also received testimony from an Iraqi defector who was a key player in Saddam's nuclear weapons program. He told us how the Iraqis built and sustained their weapons of mass destruction programs through the acquisition of sensitive Western technology, including items from U.S. firms.

In separate hearings, the Committee also discussed U.S. policy toward Iraq with Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, several retired U.S. generals, and two distinguished foreign and defense policy experts.

Today, however, we will hear from two individuals who are foreign and defense policy experts in their own right, have published widely, and are well known for their policy ideas and insights--

• Dr. Eliot Cohen, Professor and Director of Strategic Studies at The School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University; and,

• Dr. Michael O'Hanlon, Senior Fellow at the Brookings
Institution.

Gentlemen, thank you both for agreeing to appear today. We look forward to your testimony.

But before we begin, I want to invite Mr. Skelton, the Ranking Democrat on the Committee, to offer any comments he might have.

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